Innovation the mantra for CPL's success

Sat, Jan 20, '18

No matter the time of the year, it seems there is always a T20 tournament taking place. Right now, it is Australia's Big Bash. Shortly, it will be the Pakistan Super League and then the IPL will come along. The Caribbean Premier League (CPL) will take place in August and England's T20 Blast occupies a similar time slot. With so many T20 competitions now in existence, there is a danger that they could all start to blur into one. For that reason, the organisers of the CPL are determined to make sure their tournament stands out.

The CPL is already unique in certain ways. It is the only one of the world's top T20 leagues that is not run by a governing body - it is a private enterprise run with the blessing of Cricket West Indies - which means making money for its stakeholders is an important concern. It is also the only tournament which is played at the same time as another leading competition and the domestic market is serves is smaller than most, too.

This year's edition of the CPL will be its sixth. After the third season, the competition's Chief Executive Damien O'Donohue confidently predicted that it would begin to turn a profit but it has yet to do so and it failed, once again, to make money last year. In an exclusive chat with Cricbuzz alongside the chief operating officer Pete Russell, O'Donohue says the business side of the CPL is "always a challenge" and the sponsorship of Digicel, the telecommunications company, is "absolutely vital to keep the tournament going".